SECTIONS 4370-4372 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 4370-4372

4370. This part shall be known and may be cited as the School-based
Early Mental Health Intervention and Prevention Services for
Children Act of 1991.

4371. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Each year in California over 65,000 teenagers become
adolescent mothers and 230 teenagers commit suicide. Each year more
than 20 percent of California's teenagers drop out of high school.
(b) Thirty percent of California's elementary school pupils
experience school adjustment problems, many of which are evident the
first four years of school, that is, kindergarten and grades 1 to 3,
inclusive.
(c) Problems that our children experience, whether in school or at
home, that remain undetected and untreated grow and manifest
themselves in all areas of their later lives.
(d) There is a clear relationship between early adjustment
problems and later adolescent problems, including, but not limited
to, poor school attendance, low achievement, delinquency, drug abuse,
and high school dropout rates. In many cases, signs of these
problems can be detected in the early grades.
(e) It is in California's best interest, both in economic and
human terms, to identify and treat the minor difficulties that our
children are experiencing before those difficulties become major
barriers to later success. It is far more humane and cost-effective
to make a small investment in early mental health intervention and
prevention services now and avoid larger costs, including, but not
limited to, foster care, group home placement, intensive special
education services, mental health treatment, or probation supervised
care.
(f) Programs like the Primary Intervention Program and the San
Diego Unified Counseling Program for Children have proven very
effective in helping children adjust to the school environment and
learn more effective coping skills that in turn result in better
school achievement, increased attendance, and increased self-esteem.
(g) To create the optimum learning environment for our children,
schools, teachers, parents, public and private service providers, and
community-based organizations must enter into locally appropriate
cooperative agreements to ensure that all pupils will receive the
benefits of school-based early mental health intervention and
prevention services that are designed to meet their personal, social,
and educational needs.

4372. For the purposes of this part, the following definitions
shall apply:
(a) "Cooperating entity" means any federal, state, or local,
public or private nonprofit agency providing school-based early
mental health intervention and prevention services that agrees to
offer services at a schoolsite through a program assisted under this
part.
(b) "Eligible pupil" means a pupil who attends a publicly funded
elementary school and who is in kindergarten or grades 1 to 3,
inclusive.
(c) "Local educational agency" means any school district or county
office of education, or state special school.
(d) "Director" means the State Director of Mental Health.
(e) "Supportive service" means a service that will enhance the
mental health and social development of children.